Mr. Speaker, it will surprise no one to hear that the FTQ, a union, has been financially supporting the Bloc Québécois for over a decade. The Bloc Québécois and the FTQ are allies. Everyone knows that.

Up until March 6, 2009, the senior director of the FTQ was Jocelyn Dupuis. It has been widely reported in the media that Mr. Dupuis allegedly has ties to organized crime in Quebec. What we did not know is that this same Jocelyn Dupuis made financial contributions directly to the riding association of the leader of the Bloc Québécois, in Laurier—Sainte-Marie.

The question is simple: does the leader of the Bloc Québécois know where this money came from? Quebeckers deserve to know.

Mr. Speaker, between 1979 and 2003, Saddam Hussein ruled over the people of Iraq through the use of fear, intimidation and terror. While Saddam Hussein seemed to enjoy inflicting atrocities upon the whole of the Iraqi people, he had a special affinity for persecuting Iraqi Christians, like those living in Nineveh.

In the time following Saddam Hussein's conviction as a war criminal, the people of Iraq have gained much. However, despite this progress, there is still much to do in this emerging democracy.

Discrimination against Iraqi Christians continues to prevent children from attending classes and their parents from fully engaging in society. To put it another way, Iraq's shameful history of human rights suppression has still not ended and this can be clearly seen as a result of the recent killings.

I again call upon the government to use every diplomatic tool to ensure the basic ideals of religious freedom and tolerance are respected and protected for all Iraqis.

Iraqi Christians deserve our support and our protection. I believe that by speaking out and through constructive engagement, we can help make this a reality.

Mr. Speaker, our Conservative government strongly supports the 80,000 Canadian families who work in Canada's world-class aerospace industry.

The F-35 purchase will help these families and new families by providing thousands of potential new jobs and billions of dollars in economic benefits.

However, if the Liberal leader has his way, these jobs and benefits will be gone. Individual companies and industry organizations in Canada's aerospace industry are urging members of the House to put jobs and growth ahead of politics by voting against the Liberal leader's plan to cancel this important program.

The F-35 is a win-win for the Canadian Forces and the Canadian economy. The air force will be replacing an aircraft that has reached the end of its lifespan and Canada's aerospace industry will benefit from opportunities that will create highly skilled and well-paying jobs for Canadians for years to come.

It is time for the Liberal leader to put Canadian Forces and Canadian jobs ahead of politics and support a program that is good for Canada.

We are still paying for Jean Chrétien's horror movie about the Sea King replacement. We cannot afford to go there again.

Mr. Speaker, Ontarians remember only too well when Mike Harris' minister of education said that he would create a crisis in education so that the Conservatives could then implement their right-wing agenda in schools.

Now the federal finance minister has taken a page out of the same play book and is bringing what he learned from Mike Harris straight to Parliament Hill. First, he has made sure that the financial cupboard is bare by creating the biggest deficit in Canadian history and now he is telling Canadians that it would be irresponsible to spend money on them.

He has had no problem finding new money for his pet projects: $16 billion in untendered fighter jet contracts; $13 billion to build prisons for unreported crimes; and $6 billion for additional corporate tax cuts.

However, for hard-working Canadians and cash-strapped municipalities, the finance minister says that there is nothing left.

That is simply not good enough. The innocent victims of this recession who have lost their jobs, lost their EI and lost their retirement savings cannot tighten their belts any further.

I would invite the finance minister to come to Hamilton and talk to the locked out workers of Local 1005, to seniors whose pensions cannot keep up with the HST, to homeowners whose basements are flooded by broken water mains and to students who are drowning in debt. It is time to put their priorities first. It is time to remember whose money he has been spending.

Mr. Speaker, today Parliament will vote on the Liberal opposition motion calling on the government to cancel the purchase of the 65 F-35 fighter jets.

The F-35 program is good for the Canadian Forces and the economy. The forces will be able to replace jets that have reached the end of their lifespan, and the purchase of the F-35s will give Canadian aerospace companies privileged access to billions of dollars in contracts for work on thousands of jets in the global F-35 supply chain, which is much more than if we limited the operations of these companies to Canadian aircraft only.

If it were up to the Liberals, they would cancel the F-35 program and jeopardize tens of thousands of jobs in our aerospace industry. The industry and the workers must not be subject to the Liberals' political games.

Our Conservative government strongly supports the 80,000 Canadians and Quebeckers and their families who work in Canada's aerospace industry.

Mr. Speaker, the Montreal Alouettes advanced to the Grey Cup by literally crushing the Toronto Argonauts 48 to 17. The one-sided game took place on Sunday at the Olympic stadium in the magnificent riding of Hochelaga.

Thanks to spectacular team play, the Alouettes handily dominated their opponent. The support of 58,000 fans was also a factor.

This is the Alouettes' third consecutive trip to the Grey Cup, which they won in 2009. This year's championship game is a rematch, as Marc Trestman's team will again face the Saskatchewan Roughriders.

The Bloc Québécois hopes that the Montreal Alouettes will return victorious from Edmonton next Sunday and parade before their fans with the precious cup in hand. As in other matters, Montreal knows how to beat Toronto.

Mr. Speaker, Monday is Canadian Museums Day, a day to draw awareness to the importance of Canada's museums and public art galleries to the Canadian cultural landscape.

Canada's museums and public art galleries preserve our rich history, help shape the Canadian identity and educate visitors about the importance of tolerance and understanding in our society.

Besides representing the very souls of our vibrant communities, Canada's 2,500 museums, which include everything from art galleries to science centres to zoos, are key to the economy. This sector employs 24,000 Canadians and contributes $17 billion in tourism revenue.

On Canadian Museums Day, I encourage all Canadians to consider the role that culture plays in their communities and to become more active supporters of heritage so that the Canadian story can continue to live on through the generations.

Mr. Speaker, the Liberal-NDP-Bloc coalition continues to make reckless and uncosted spending promises, reckless spending promises like a 45-day work year.

Who would pay for reckless Liberal spending? Hard-working Canadian taxpayers, that is who. Canadian families would be forced to send more and more of their money to fund Liberal schemes and bloated government. It is no wonder the Liberal leader calls himself a tax and spend Liberal and publicly demands that federal taxes must go up.

Our Conservative government believes in lower taxes that help create jobs and economic growth. That is why we lowered the family tax bill by over $3,000 under our Conservative government. That is why we helped create over 430,000 new jobs since last July.

While Liberals talk about massive new spending and higher taxes, we are looking out for Canadian families by getting back to balance and lowering taxes.

Mr. Speaker, the Conservative MP for Saskatoon—Humboldt admitted recently that the government was spending like it was Christmas, and he is certainly right: billions on prisons, billions on single-source stealth fighters and $300 million to clean up the mess it made on Camp Mirage. However, when it comes to the Nortel pensioners, disabled pensioners whose benefits will run out at Christmas, the government starts behaving like Scrooge.

How does the government explain its reckless spending and its heartless choices to disabled pensioners?

Mr. Speaker, we have considerable concern for the employees of Nortel. The Leader of the Opposition should understand that what is happening is due to a court settlement that occurred under legislation in place at the time of the Nortel bankruptcy.

I have spoken about these pensioners many times. They do not understand the government's priorities: single-source stealth fighters, prisons, millions of dollars to clean up their messes. There are solutions to the Nortel pensioners' problem.

Why does the government show so little compassion and judgment on this issue?

Mr. Speaker, let us be clear. We have a lot of compassion for the pensioners in this situation, but the reality is that the outcome was decided in a court-approved settlement agreement. That was signed in accordance with the bankruptcy legislation in effect at the time.

Mr. Speaker, let me raise another issue. In sworn testimony before a House of Commons committee, explosive allegations were made about how the contract was awarded for the renovation of the West Block.

For a year now, we have been trying to get to the bottom of this sorry affair and now there are lurid allegations about the minister and his cashmere coat. Why is the minister still in his job? When will the Prime Minister tell Canadians the truth about this affair?

Mr. Speaker, the facts are very well known in this case. Officials have testified there is absolutely no political interference in the contracts. In fact, the individual the leader of the Liberal Party is quoting is an individual who lost the contract.

As for the minister's coat, the minister had an $800 coat stolen. He reported that to the police.

Mr. Speaker, let us talk about the facts. This morning, Paul Sauvé said under oath that he was asked to pay $300,000 to have access to a system organized by the Conservatives that Quebeckers did not have access to.

Gilles Varin asked for $25,000 and asked that the rest be divided between other contacts directly related to his renovation contract, as a kickback.

Senator Pierre-Claude Nolin, his assistant, Hubert Pichet, and Bernard Côté, when he was the assistant to former minister Fortier, were linked to the contract being awarded.